At the pre-drupa show in Dusseldorf last month, the hot topics included environment and sustainability. And it is in this domain where Epson really stands out from the rest based on following the principles of monozukuri and sho sho shein. The company revealed its longterm strategy for reducing waste – an on-site instant recycling system called PaperLab.
The machine uses dry fibre technology to take old paper, remove any confidential details, and transform it into new sheets of paper. Although it is currently undergoing testing, the finished product is around 18 months away and Epson will be showing an informative video on its drupa stand explaining how it works.
With five zones on its stand – prepress, sign and display, label, copy shop, and technology – Epson will showcase a wide range of products at drupa. This includes the new SC-S range in the sign and display zone, the Color Works C7500 desktop label printer in the label zone, and the new wide-format SC-P20000, which is aimed at personalization for the copy shop zone.
Epson will unveil significant new features on its multifunction 36-inch and 44-inch aqueous SureColor SC-T printers with integrated scanners which combine to deliver impressive new levels of functionality and productivity for applications where hard copies are scanned to file and printed. These include the fastest in class print and scan speeds at 34 cm a second in grayscale and 15 cm a second in color; a new high-speed ‘production’ mode for images on photo glossy type media; 150 mm rolls; high-capacity 700 ml ink containers; and, versatile scanning up to 30.4 metre long.
Reducing the environmental impact of its technology is a major focus for Epson. The design and precision of the inkjet printers and presses reduces energy and ink use, and cuts down waste. For example, the new SureColor SC-S printers to be demonstrated at drupa use up to 4% less energy compared to latex technology, about 15% less ink than the previous SureColor generation and up to 50% less ink than latex technology – depending on the substrate and quality printed.
Tripling printhead production
Epson’s third generation PrecisionCore TFP printhead in single head and linehead configurations is making a significant impact on the development of the company’s printers and presses, enabling products that deliver higher quality, higher speeds and better all-round performance. To meet predicted demand, Epson has just announced a €160 million investment in a new factory in Japan to triple printhead production capacity for new professional print products currently under development.
Sunao Murata, COO, Professional Printing Division, Seiko Epson, said, “Our commitment to R&D and continual improvement shapes everything we do. 6% of our annual turnover is invested in R&D which roughly translates to around US$1.3 million everyday. The industry will see the very latest results at drupa where we will demonstrate more professional inkjet printers and presses than ever before – all delivering the ultimate in production performance and user experience – and show how companies can use them to build successful businesses and enter new markets.”
